Neil Midgley reviews the aftermath of Channel 4's documentary series, Benefits
Street, and the Question Time-style debate that followed it

One of the great strengths of the series Benefits Streetwas its clarity. It didn’t – contrary to some of the criticism levelled against it – obviously seek to caricature any of its contributors, or to create stories that were misleading. It was the reality of life on benefits, and the ease with which that life could be chosen, that has turned the programme into a national talking point for the last six weeks.

Unfortunately, tonight’s final evening of programmes about Birmingham’s James Turner Street didn’t live up to those standards. Perhaps because of the criticism it has suffered, Channel 4 offered the street’s residents their say in Benefits Street: the Last Word. Afterwards, it offered politicians and pundits their right of reply in Benefits Britain: the Live Debate. Both of these programmes were flecked with a confusion that the rest of the series has happily lacked.

The Last Word rehearsed allegations of benefit fraud against young Becky and Mark, but didn’t really get to the bottom of them. It rehearsed the problems that Fungi had had with his benefits after the programme had shown him working for money, but didn’t resolve how he is managing to live now. It showed the German and Australian and Russian press on James Turner Street, but didn’t give any sense of what their stories said – or how the programme has played abroad. And it challenged White Dee about whether she really was unfit to work, but didn’t come up with a convincing answer.

In The Live Debate, presenter Richard Bacon tried skilfully to tease out the real issues about both the programme and the benefits system, but was often shouted down – or had his questions ignored by people with other axes to grind. The person who came off worst was Labour’s oleaginous Chris Bryant, who simply refused to engage with the core political issue – the fact that Labour’s 13 years in power saw the UK’s benefits bill rise by 62 per cent.

Some of the residents of James Turner Street turned up for the debate, to complain about how they had been treated by the programme-makers, and to wring their hands about the benefits system. Channel 4’s commissioning editor, Ralph Lee, strenuously denied that there had been any skulduggery in the making of the series. Left-wing newspaper columnist Owen Jones clashed with the Telegraph’s own Allison Pearson about incapacity benefit statistics.

The big questions – is the benefits system too cushy? Does work pay? – sparked a lot of shouting and tumult, but very little new wisdom. Only when the vested interests and the political parties stop shouting at each other, and at least attempt to answer those big questions, will Britain’s benefits system get the fix it desperately needs.